April Is The New June

I shouldn't have to be seeking out the shade at this time of year but that's how it's been. Much too hot and still no rain - so much for April showers.

The cherry-plum, plum and pear blossom has been and and gone and the cherry and apple is out now - about two weeks early.

Eating fresh asparagus, spinach and purple-sprouting broccoli.

The first row of peas are planted out and there's plenty of seedlings on the go in the greenhouse and coldframes. All we need now is some rain.

Blossom time

Cherry

Apple

Early peas

Planted out and growing away:

Broccoli

Spring

So, after one of the coldest winters on record it's been the driest March for fifty years, and with temperatures well above average. Very pleasant but also a little ominous.

Out in the countryside the hawthorn is greening up even as the blackthorn is still in blossom.

I've seen red-tailed bumble bees and orange-tipped and peacock butterflies.

And I like the way the elder sneaks into leaf without me noticing (but then I would wouldn't I).

Sowing time

Sowing lots of seeds this weekend, here's some I did earlier:

Cabbages

Peas

In my garden

Blooming now - hellebores and pulsatilla -